Movies Like Blue Collar
If you loved Blue Collar's Drama and Crime storytelling, these films deliver a similar experience — carefully selected for tone, themes, and emotional depth. Each pick includes where to watch it right now.
★ Top Picks
Palookaville
Jerry and his two pals, Russ and Syd, are just looking for some easy money to help them break out of their nowhere lives in their nowhere town. Despite a bungled jewelry store heist which exposes their incompetence as criminals, a fateful event (and an old black-and-white film) convinces them that they can pull off an armored-truck robbery. While they are busy plotting their caper, their dysfunctional families spin out of control, all around them.
Dancer in the Dark
Selma, a Czech immigrant on the verge of blindness, struggles to make ends meet for herself and her son, who has inherited the same genetic disorder and will suffer the same fate without an expensive operation. When life gets too difficult, Selma learns to cope through her love of musicals, dreaming up little numbers to the rhythmic beats of her surroundings.
Mad Money
Three female employees of the Federal Reserve plot to steal money that is about to be destroyed.
Burn
Lonely, unstable gas station attendant Melinda is tired of being overshadowed by her more confident, outgoing co-worker Sheila. When the gas station is held up at gunpoint by Billy, a desperate man in need of quick cash, Melinda finds an opportunity to make a connection with the robber, regardless of who gets hurt.
Baby Driver
After being coerced into working for a crime boss, a young getaway driver finds himself taking part in a heist doomed to fail.
Heist
A father is without the means to pay for his daughter's medical treatment. As a last resort, he partners with a greedy co-worker to rob a casino. When things go awry they're forced to hijack a city bus.
No Sudden Move
A group of criminals are brought together under mysterious circumstances and have to work together to uncover what's really going on when their simple job goes completely sideways.
More Movies Like Blue Collar
Cradle 2 the Grave
Gang leader Tony pulls off a major diamond heist with his crew, but cop-turned-criminal Ling knows who has the loot and responds by kidnapping Tony's daughter and holding her for ransom. Unfortunately, Tony's lost the diamonds as well. As he frantically searches for his daughter and the jewels, Tony pairs with a high-kicking government agent who once worked with Ling and seeks revenge on him.
The Pickup
A routine cash pickup takes a wild turn when mismatched armored truck drivers Russell and Travis are ambushed by ruthless criminals led by savvy mastermind Zoe.
Fargo
Jerry, a small-town Minnesota car salesman is bursting at the seams with debt... but he's got a plan. He's going to hire two thugs to kidnap his wife in a scheme to collect a hefty ransom from his wealthy father-in-law. It's going to be a snap and nobody's going to get hurt... until people start dying. Enter Police Chief Marge, a coffee-drinking, parka-wearing - and extremely pregnant - investigator who'll stop at nothing to get her man. And if you think her small-time investigative skills will give the crooks a run for their ransom... you betcha!
Wanda
After a string of abusive relationships, Wanda abandons her family and seeks solace in the company of a petty criminal.
The Machinist
Trevor, an insomniac lathe operator, experiences unusual occurrences at work and home. A strange man follows him everywhere, but no one else seems to notice him.
Swimming with Sharks
Guy is a young film executive who's willing to do whatever it takes to make it in Hollywood. He begins working for famed producer Buddy Ackerman, a domineering, manipulative, coldhearted boss. When Guy also finds out that his cynical girlfriend, Dawn, has been using sex as a career move, he reaches his limit. Guy decides to exact revenge on Buddy by kidnapping him and subjecting him to cruel and unusual punishment.
The Big Steal
Army Lieutenant Halliday, accused of stealing the Army payroll, pursues the real thief on a frantic chase through Mexico aided by the thief's ex-girlfriend and is in turn being chased by his accuser, Capt. Blake.
Small Time Crooks
A loser of a crook and his wife strike it rich when a botched bank job's cover business becomes a spectacular success.
Dogville
A woman on the run from the mob is reluctantly accepted in a small Colorado community in exchange for labor, but when a search visits the town, she learns that their support has a price.
Welcome to Collinwood
Five hapless inner-city low-lifes attempt to burgle a pawnbroker's safe, but end up being plagued by bad luck.
Cadillac Man
Joe's a car salesman with a problem—he has two days to sell 12 cars or he loses his job. This would be a difficult task at the best of times but Joe has to contend with his girlfriends (he's two-timing), a missing teenage daughter and an ex-wife.
Why These Movies Are Similar
These recommendations share core qualities with Blue Collar (1978): Drama and Crime themes, similar narrative structure, and comparable emotional depth. NoBadPicks uses a combination of TMDB collaborative filtering, genre matching, and AI analysis to surface films most likely to resonate with fans of Blue Collar.
See full details for Blue Collar (1978)